Dave D’Onofrio’s Patriots Notebook: They won for losing

The play of the offensive line and the health of Tom Brady:Jan 3, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) reacts after being tackled by Miami Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon (not pictured) during the second half at Sun Life Stadium.

The New England Patriots finished their season with a 20-10 loss in South Beach, which was their third straight loss in Miami. In the end, getting the No. 2 seed may be a blessing for the Patriots as they avoid playing a potentially risky team in the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional round. No, well consider that the loss New England took today also knocked them out of having home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

In only his second game as a Patriot, Steven Jackson received an opportunity to become the featured running back in the New England offense, but he failed to deliver. The Patriots made a few mistakes in the game and the Dolphins did not fail to capitalize off of them. The Patriots ran for 62 yards in the first half.

“Our level of consistency hasn’t really been up to the standards that we need it to be”, Brady said. With the win, the Patriots became the fifth defending Super Bowl champion to start the season with a 7-0 record.

The Patriots have actually come full circle with their pass blocking concerns; they’re right back where they were during the first four games of last season, when Brady was starring in the Patriots version of Duck Dynasty. Brady finished with one of the most pedestrian games of the season as he finished going 12-of-21 for 134 yards and no touchdowns. If a better rotation is implemented, the Pats could take some of the pressure off of Tom Brady. For the game, Tannehill went 25 for 38 with 350 total yards and had two passing touchdowns with no interceptions.

“Wherever we play, we play”, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. Ignore any and every conspiracy theory that the Patriots wanted to avoid the Steelers in the divisional round; the Patriots were in trouble before the Jets had been eliminated to make way for Pittsburgh and Belichick has already said that he doesn’t care which team he faces. “When you are hitting any quarterback like that, they are going to get rattled…no matter how experienced or how young, you are going to get rattled”. Julian Edelman and Sebastian Vollmer on offense, as well as Dont’a Hightower and Chandler Jones on defense, are all expected to return for the postseason.